Disappointment
by An Kayoh
Summary: McKaySheppardCadman. Aliens sort of make them do it. Things don't turn out well.


(ducks Naruto fans)

Okay, this was written for the LiveJournal community summercon, in response to their Blame Someone Else! challenge. My prompt was McKay/Sheppard/Cadman. I've decided to post it here because one of the reasons my LiveJournal username is what it is was to keep it linked to my account. Something I may find myself regreting.

* * *

When Teyla contracts an Earth influenza Elizabeth decides that it will be Lieutenant Cadman who will replace her in the field while she recovers. When Elizabeth announces this to SGA-1, silence greets her.

For about two seconds.

She was expecting Rodney's complaints, and judging from the look on the lieutenant's face, she wasn't the only one, after all-Rodney had never hidden the fact that Cadman made him nervous. What Elizabeth hadn't been expecting, however, were John's quieter protests that they could handle themselves without Teyla babysitting, "No offense to the lieutenant here, of course," with an apologetic glance at his subordinate.

Elizabeth watches Cadman carefully as the men of SGA-1 grumble quietly (or not so quietly, on Rodney's part). The other woman merely smirks to herself and shakes her head, and Elizabeth wonders if Cadman understands that it isn't personal (even from Rodney), that SGA-1 is so close knit that they would rather go without than allow someone new into the fold.

In the end, Elizabeth narrows her gaze on John, who pouts slightly (a childish quirk she'll never get over), and Rodney scowls as he gives in.

She sets them up for a milk run; a quick walk to a village Teyla had assured them needed no introduction. Teyla had seemed slightly disappointed when Elizabeth mentioned she had sent Cadman with her team, but Elizabeth assumed that even Teyla was capable of feeling upset about being left behind.

Of course that was it.

On the planet, things were going about as well as they had during the briefing, but thankfully quieter. Laura had been told to take point and she strolled happily through the tall grass listening to Rodney's complaints and John's absentminded replies. Ronon brought up the rear, petulantly kicking at the grass.

Smirking at the Satedan's actions, Laura reached the top of the last hill before the village, she was feeling the stretch in her legs, grateful for it. It had been almost a month since her last offworld mission, when Reynolds had broken his leg and her team had been placed on standby. It had been a month of patrols and babysitting scientists as they explored new parts of Atlantis, hardly things that the active lieutenant enjoyed. Without the gene, she hadn't even been able to escape to the mainland for garrison duty, it being reserved for recuperating military, medics, and a few anthropologists studying the Athosians.

The village was nestled at the bottom of the hill, its rigid angles and arrangements a contrast to the rolling landscape surrounding it. There was a single, large round building, in the absolute center of the village (although she supposed it was a small town, really) and that is where Colonel Sheppard directed them, taking the lead as Laura drops back to tease a stiffly silent McKay.

Laura watches the proceedings (carried out by Sheppard and the typical Council of Elders set-up), keeping one eye on her surroundings. She notices Ronon doing the same and they lock eyes for a moment, a feral grin across the Satedan's face. Laura grins back, showing her teeth and they both return to guard duty, pecking order in place.

Listening with one ear, Laura recognizes that they've reached the trust part of the negotiations. The villagers are fairly blunt about their wishes and John (after a few questions to ascertain any danger) agrees to whatever the alien ritual of the week is.

It turns out that all they have to do is sit in a round room, on the floor, while incense burns. McKay inquires nervously about allergies and although his teammates roll their eyes at the familiar complaints, the elders listen in fascination at Rodney's (surprisingly and unnecessarily horrific, Laura thinks) descriptions of anaphylactic shock. The elders consult quickly before assuring the team that none have ever suffered these effects and that if they felt that the incense would endanger their health, they were welcome to leave at anytime.

If they wish, one elder says, with a twinkle in her eye and Laura feels suddenly nervous.

They are lead to the room and it's small enough that, while they can sit down without touching, Rodney begins to twitch and sweat, his rate of speech doubling (Laura feels claustrophobic, half-remembering the panicky sensations through the filter of Rodney's mind), until the colonel lays a calming hand on his jittery shoulder.

They settle themselves down, almost knee to knee, and a faint, blue smoke starts to drift up from a hole in the floor. As a rich nutty aroma fills the air, Laura's mouth waters and McKay makes a quip about being smoked for dinner, the Colonel snorts and glances, almost fondly, at Rodney. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Ronon's head clunks back on the wall he's leaning against. Startled, Laura and Rodney glance at him, their eyebrows raised in identical expressions of dismay.

Ronon's jaw drops open a bit and he lets out an enormous snore. The tension in the colonel's body relaxes, Rodney rolls his eyes, and Laura smothers a giggle at the sight of the enormous man leaning back with his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open. John mutters something about that being the most common reaction to the scent of the incense and Laura wonders idly what the less common reactions are.

She opens her mouth to ask but stops, irritated by a sudden increase in the room's temperature. Rodney mutters darkly (removing his jacket) about being roasted for the 'festival of the moon or some such nonsense.' The colonel shifts uncomfortably, his eyes fixed upon Rodney's mouth.

Laura finds herself watching it as well, fascinated, almost, by its movements and Rodney's babble grinds to a halt, as he blinks, confusedly, at the pair of them.

"What?"

"Shut up, McKay," Colonel Sheppard moves forward, but Laura beats him to it, planting a kiss on that mobile mouth. Rodney freezes as she straddles him, his mouth hard. But Laura nips lightly as his lower lip, though, and he's suddenly open, hot and wet and _everywhere_...

Laura's vaguely aware of Colonel Sheppard watching them, pouting slightly and she grins widely against Rodney's mouth, before pulling back, working hastily at the snaps on Rodney's tac vest as Sheppard dives in for his kiss. She stops for a moment, enjoying the view, before returning to the more important things, like getting Rodney naked as soon as possible.

Rodney gets the idea and quickly shrugs out of his shirt, seemingly so that he can get at their clothing, pulling at snaps and zippers and buttons, using one frantic hand on each of them. Laura lowers her head to his bare chest, immediately latching onto one of his nipples and Rodney gasps, breaking his kiss with Sheppard to lay back and pant helplessly. The colonel catches on quickly, his tongue lapping at Rodney's neck, and his fingers moving swiftly to rid them all of the remainder of their clothing.

Laura grins happily, and as soon as Rodney's _finally_ naked, she pushes him down forcefully, twining her form about his, feeling the colonel press against them from the side, sucking desperate kisses onto their shoulders and necks.

It all goes downhill from there.

"Oh my god."

"You did WHAT!" Despite the emotion (and that was unusual enough) in Elizabeth's voice, the volume is barely above a hiss as she glances out of the briefing room (checking for Caldwell, gossipmongers, _sane_ people).

"Oh my god."

"Elizabeth there was this incense–"

"Oh my god."

"Rodney, please be quiet. You didn't think to ask about the effects?"

"They didn't say anything about–"

"I can't believe you had sex in front of me while I was asleep." Ronon has his feet up on the table, looking petulant, whether it was because he was disgusted with them, or because he was annoyed that he'd it missed it, he, fortunately, wasn't sharing.

"Oh my GOD!" Rodney's voice shoots up an octave.

John and Laura blush crimson, and Teyla, wrapped in an afghan and ensconced serenely in a chair, raises one perfect eyebrow and smirks.

"Rodney, shut up!" Elizabeth and John bark in stereo. Rodney's jaw clicks shut, before easing open again to mutter unhappily.

"Carson. Now." Elizabeth orders and Laura feels herself flush red again. "We'll pick this up later." Elizabeth promises, her face tight with frustration.

Laura shoots to her feet, but Sheppard beats her to the door. She catches the barest of looks as he brushes past. Anger. Embarrassment. Regret. Something tightens in her chest.

She hears, rather than sees the shouting match between McKay and Sheppard in the infirmary. No words are clear, but a cart gets knocked noisily over as Sheppard storms out, sending Carson into a dither. He's handling this a lot better than she would have expected and it makes her feel rather ashamed.

She feels bad for wishing it on poor sweet Carson, but she wants him to get mad, angry about what happened, in any way. She needs anger to fight against, to argue with; to fight and break up or make up, whichever. Instead, he seems almost understanding, which just makes her guilt deepen until she can barely stand it.

She finishes her report after dinner and heads over to the colonel's office, finding him and Lorne joking around with their feet up on Sheppard's desk. Lorne smiles as she comes in, but the colonel does not, instead he sits up straight, removing his feet from the desk. Lorne's smile fades as he glances from Sheppard to Laura, and he lowers his feet as well. Laura clutches her report, wondering suddenly why she didn't just e-mail it like usual, but gets her answer as the colonel looks at her pointedly and then at his IN box. She deposits the paperwork and flees.

Back in her quarters, she leans against the door, biting her lip, trying to quell the upset (no, childish, she corrects) feelings of despair. She was a marine, not some sort of co-dependent teacher's pet.

It's almost 2200 before she tracks down McKay on one of the higher balconies, off of the central spire. He's leaning against the railing, peering out into the night air. Atlantis spreads below them like wings. He doesn't look at her until she's settled against the railing as well.

He looks up, glances at her face, her eyes, her mind and looks away. Laura nudges him with her shoulder and he pushes back a little, a gentle reassurance.

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

Feedback rocks. 


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